<strong>Chicago &mdash; March 16 </strong><br />For the second year, Heidrick & Struggles International Inc. worked with the World Economic Forum (WEF) as a strategic partner to assess the global nominees for the WEF&rsquo;s Young Global Leaders for 2009. This year, 45 of the Young Global Leaders are from North America, including Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Digg Founder Kevin Rose, Boris Nikolic of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and golfer Tiger Woods.<br /> <br />Heidrick & Struggles CEO L. Kevin Kelly said, &ldquo;We are honored to be entrusted with the task of helping evaluate the world&rsquo;s exceptional young leaders who have a unique platform as Young Global Leaders, to help steer us toward better outcomes for business, society and the planet as a whole.&rdquo;<br /> <br />Each year approximately 200-300 exceptional individuals are identified for this honor, drawn from every region in the world and from a wide range of disciplines and sectors. Heidrick & Struggles has used its expertise to help the World Economic Forum evaluate individuals against the specific criteria that it has set out to shape this international community of young leaders. <br /> <br />To evaluate the nominees, Heidrick appointed team leaders from within its organization to be responsible for the specific regions of East Asia, South Asia, North America, Latin America, MENA, sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Each team leader appointed team members with specific knowledge of each country, or sub-region. In total, more than 50 consultants were involved in the review.<br /> <br />The forum nominated Young Global Leaders from 71 countries, including leaders from business, government, academia, nonprofit organizations and media. The 2009 new class represents all regions: East Asia (54), Europe (58), the Middle East and North Africa (12), North America (45), South Asia (24), sub-Saharan Africa (20) and Latin America (17). For a list of YGLs honored in 2009, click here.<br />